GULF OF GUAYAQUIL. 43 



they clear little more than the price of their passage, 

 these people find their advantage in undertaking an 

 annual expedition of this kind. Apart from the very- 

 positive benefit to health, they gain what they like 

 most in the world — a season of absolute idleness, with 

 the amusement of seeing new objects and talking to 

 new people. For the remainder of the voyage the 

 main-deck was crowded and somewhat encumbered 

 by picturesque groups of rough men, some accom- 

 panied by womankind, alternating with huge heaps of 

 tropical fruit — pineapples and bananas, a single 

 bunch of the latter sometimes weighing more than a 

 hundred pounds. 



The thermometer scarcely varied by a small fraction 

 from 80° throughout the night and the following day, 

 until we had cleared the Gulf of Guayaquil ; and even 

 at this moderate temperature the feeling of lassitude 

 continued as on the previous day. Of the famous 

 mosquitos of the river Guayas we had little ex- 

 perience. They are said sometimes to attack in 

 swarms so numerous and ferocious that, even by day, 

 it becomes difficult for officers and men to manage a 

 ship on the river. 



The sun had set on the following evening, April 12, 

 before we were well abreast of Cabo Blanco, the 

 southern headland of the Gulf of Guayaquil, and we 

 saw nothing of its southern shore. About one-half 

 of this belongs to Peru, and close to the frontier-line 

 is the little port of Tumbez, sometimes visited by 

 passing steamers. I was assured by two of the ship's 

 officers that the climate and vegetation of this place 

 are much the same as at Guayaquil, but there are few 



